Pumpkin Chili & Cornbread

With lows in the 40s and highs in the 60s, we finally are having some fall weather and it felt right to finally make some of my must-try pumpkin recipes. I thought pumpkin chili was the perfect way to celebrate our cooler temps!

I’m not sure what it is–maybe the “scientist” in me who likes to experiment–but I don’t follow a lot of recipes exactly. Instead, I seem to like to use a recipe as a starting point and then experiment with my own concoction. For this pumpkin chili, I combined the one from my must-try list, my mom’s & a friends. This is what I came up with:

To go with, Pumpkin Cornbread muffins sounded delish! Between the baby & toddler, I wasn’t up to making it from scratch though (although I’m sure the original recipe I found for the pumpkin list is fantastic). Instead, I used this cornbread muffin mix packet:

Neither the chili nor the muffins had an overwhelming pumpkin taste, but just a slight hint of those yummy fall spices & flavors. They were both great ways to use some of my mass quantities of pureed pumpkin from Halloween. Another huge plus–the house smelled wonderful!!

Not only will I make these both again, but will do big batches to freeze. These will both be great to have on hand in the freezer for quick meals this fall & winter!

I tried pumpkin cornbread too and loved it. I'm on a pumpkin spree as well. I just posted pumpkin spice thumbprints on my blog and have a list just like you of other pumpkin must-try recipes. This week I intend to make pumpkin gingerbread and pumpkin molasses cookies. I'll have to keep an update on your pumpkin posts so I can get more delicious ideas. I'm now following you on Facebook.